Toyo Eatery wants the world to feast Filipino style

The winner of the Gin Mare Art of Hospitality Award, as part of Asia's 50 Best Restaurants 2025, has consistently risen through the ranks by putting people and the planet first.

The kamayan feasting menu at Toyo Eatery in Manila appears, at the outset, to be a nod to event eating in the Philippines, where dining around a table spread with banana leaves and piled with delicacies to be enjoyed with your hands is a key part of any celebration.

It also comes with a happy byproduct, says Toyo Eatery head chef Jordy Navarra: “It makes your hands busy,” meaning no ultra-posed photos reaching Instagram. “This menu really brings us back to basics, where it's no longer about what is trendy or what looks good on social media,” he explains. “We want to remind people that this is really about just having fun.”

The restaurant's exterior manages to feel both welcoming and exclusive

Having debuted at Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants as the One To Watch Award winner in 2018, Toyo Eatery has continued its rise. The Gin Mare Art of Hospitality Award 2025, as part of Asia's 50 Best Restaurants 2025, is the latest in a string of accolades the restaurant has picked up since opening in 2016.

Last year marked Toyo’s fifth turn as The Best Restaurant in the Philippines; and as of now it remains the only restaurant in the country on the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list. All the while, it has been commended for its focus on eco-friendliness and championing cultural heritage, winning the Sustainable Restaurant Award in 2023.

May, Navarra’s wife, with whom he runs the restaurant says, “It’s surreal. It’s still shocking for us. To be part of the list is already huge. But to get the Art of Hospitality Award is just insane.”

A world away from fine-dining formality

The pair have been running their minimalist outpost in south-central Manila for the past nine years, the sleek cream and wood interiors allowing the punch delivered by dishes including kinilaw (tangy, marinated raw fish) and bahay kubo, an 18-vegetable salad inspired by a Tagalog folk song, to take centre-stage.

The food may be fine-dining quality, but the vibe, the service and the hospitality – in part set by furnishings from local artisans – is worlds away from old-school formality, Navarra says. “It's a nice representation of what it's like here because in Manila, in the Philippines in general, we're pretty laid back and it's pretty chill.”

There is an a la carte menu along with the kamayan, the latter seeking to recreate fond memories of beach days where banana leaves are gathered from trees, laid out, and laden with food to be consumed salo-salo (sharing) style.

“It brings you back to those moments where you're relaxed, you're happy, you're eating good food in a nice setting,” Navarra explains. “We can't really recreate that in the restaurant, but getting the same energy or the same level of comfort from a meal was something we really wanted to explore.”

From Manila, to the UK, Hong Kong and back again

Setting his own pace in the kitchen – and what comes out of it – has become an ever-growing focus for Navarra, who worked at Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck, named the World’s Best Restaurant in 2005. That experience was “a bit overwhelming,” he reflects.

Coming to Britain from Manila with the idea to cook full-time, and being catapulted into Blumenthal’s world-famous kitchen, was “crazy, because it felt like I was playing football on a Sunday, and then in the Premier League. It felt like that kind of step.”

The dining room at Toyo Eatery encourages communal dining and conversation

Beyond the unusual ingredients and laborious techniques, “It gave me a really good understanding of what it takes to make good food. I think that's the one thing that I take back from that, is the amount of effort that chefs give to make really good meals,” and the effort that goes into serving them, too.

Navarra graduated from the UK countryside to Bo Innovation in Hong Kong, before opening Toyo Eatery in 2016. These much-lauded stepping stones, and praise for putting Filipino cuisine on the world food map, has upped his celebrity status: last year he appeared on Netflix’s Chef’s Uncut, in Rolling Stone magazine, and continues to make his name via cooking collaborations across the globe.

Navarra moved from Manila to the UK, then to Hong Kong and eventually back to Manila

“That's what still drives me today, it’s the learning experience, discovering new food. We're lucky enough to be able to travel and to eat and to cook in different countries. It's still the same feeling you get, learning about food in other countries and what this ingredient means for this culture. The more we do it, the more you realise you know nothing.”

A Toyo farm in the future

The prospect might fill other chefs with fear, but Navarra relishes these forays into unexplored territory. It is that same appeal of the unknown – and a desire to plate up planet-forward food – that has made him mull what Toyo’s next steps might be. A farm of their own could be the next logical move, he considers, speaking the idea aloud for the first time. “Going deeper into the ingredients we use and growing our own, and getting to highlight that… I think that would be a nice next thing.” 

The Navarras are driven by sustainability at Toyo Eatery

Where the local focus is concerned, Toyo is already well ahead of the pack. The restaurant removed beef from its menu in 2022 due to the carbon footprint required to import high-quality produce. It has also created business opportunities for communities across the country who, before Navarra’s domestic discovery missions, weren’t selling what they grow.

Who’s the boss?

Equally important is maintaining the relationship between the husband and wife at Toyo’s helm. How easy is it to be in business with your other half? “It helps a lot that we have our own boundaries. I don't know how to cook,” admits May, “so I never really mess around in the kitchen.” Navarra jumps in to say,“I don't know anything about money,” so May heads up operations, making the day-to-day, “actually quite peaceful for us, working together.” 

They have no plans to change what has become a highly successful formula, both for the restaurant, and their marriage. “Toyo is not really a phase in our lives, it's our life; the people here are our family,” May says. “That commitment alone is really what makes the relationship work.” Plus, she adds with a laugh, “He knows that I'm the boss.” 

Now step into Toyo Eatery in this video: